Humanities News

Immersive learning day – humanities: philosophy and ethics

An introduction to the day by Mr Bazely:

During the Immersive Learning Day on Tuesday the 18th September year 10 students at Launceston College had the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the Christian and Islamic faiths. Students met key local people from both these faiths, whilst exploring varying beliefs on contemporary ethical issues. Other important guest speakers also included the Local Community Police Support Officer, a science specialist, volunteers from the street pastors . Students shared their own beliefs as they explored the conflicting religious and ethical questions over a wide variety of situations, from The Trans-Alaskan Pipeline to Macbeth. The heat was turned up at the end of the day as the panel of guest speakers were put under the spot light during a lively debate. The bombardment of controversial questions from students included, ‘If AI (artificial intelligence) exists then can it sin?’. It was a pleasure to witness our students confidently creating such considered ethical discussion.

What the day meant to students:

Year 10 took part in a RS (Religious Studies) immersive learning day. During the day we had talks with different people and with different views on religion and a range of ethical issues.

We discussed the Trans-Alaskan pipeline, and the environmental issues it causes, along with why we should or should not drill for oil in the Alaskan Wildlife Centre. We thought about the different Islamic views on the situation as well as the Christian views, and also whether the current US president agrees with it. When looking at the views we started to realise that the two religions aren’t that different, they both see our role as one to look after our environment. We had a workshop from Reverend Alison Hardy about what salvation is, and how you can achieve it. It was very interesting to read the different Bible quotes and think about the meanings behind them.

Our favourite talk was from Sister Iqbal. She talked to us about the differences and similarities between the Islamic and Christian faith, and gave us a little bit of history on the Islamic faith. She told us about the beginning of the religion and demonstrated how Muslims pray. It was very interesting to know what the followers of Islam think about the terrorist attacks and people who commit crimes in the name of Islam, and why you should never have any pictures or memorabilia of Allah

Over all the day was really exciting and we enjoyed it a lot.

Reflections on the day written by Baylie-Jayne Larcombe and Tallulah Shaw